Computer networks are often configured to incorporate network security systems in order to protect the networks against malicious activity. Such malicious activity can include, for example, deployment of malware that is utilized by attackers to create networks of compromised devices or “botnets.”
An increasingly significant source of malware involves malicious mobile applications downloaded from alternative mobile application market sites. Although some highly respected mobile application market sites can be relied upon to individually scan all of their available mobile applications for malware prior to offering any of those mobile applications for download to the mobile devices of their users, there are numerous alternative market sites offering similar mobile applications that may include malware.
Conventional approaches to assessing alternative market sites generally require downloading and scanning all or nearly all of the mobile applications available at each such market site. Such approaches are unduly time-consuming and are not readily scalable to the increasingly large numbers of alternative market sites accessible to mobile device users. Accordingly, there is a high likelihood that mobile applications downloaded from alternative market sites contain malware.